Akira Hongō
Akira Hongo is the Karate Master of Yami's One Shadow, Nine Fists and the master of Sho Kano. 'Appearance' Akira wears tight black clothing complete with gloves and has a muscular build, like all other masters, but has a few defining characteristics. He constantly wears sunglasses with triangular lenses, has a large scar running down his left eye, and has pointy ears. He also has scruffy facial hair, giving him the look of a thug (and a passing resemblance to Akisame). Later he is revealed to have pointed ears, like Niijima's. In his youth, his hair was much shorter and he did not have facial hair and sunglasses. 'Personality' Hongo is a rather serious man when it comes to many things, even as simple as meeting the other Fists. He scorns the use of science and technology to measure one's level of Martial Arts, though has shown he doesn't mind using it to train Sho. Despite his cold nature, he has a rather close bond to his disciple and cares for him deeply. He has faith in Sho that he is the 'Sole Successor' and wishes to disprove everyone's opinion of Sho that he is not worthy of the title. He has also shown visible rage when he heard Sho died during the D of D Tournament. He harbors a great hatred for Ryozanpaku, as it is revealed that he received his scar from Shio Sakaki and is clearly upset when he learns Sho died saving Miu Furinji. In the battle for the Karate successor of Yami, he tells Kenichi to tell Sakaki that they will "end this soon". During his past when he trained the young Sho, Hongo has also shown to be rather lenient, as he does not care that Sho saved the bird, simply saying with a smile, "Do what you like." This shows that he respects the wishes of others, a key mindset that placed him into conflict with Sakaki. Hongo's reason for embracing the Satsujinken is out of honor for [[Suzuki Hajime|'Suzuki' Hajime]], who demanded a death match with him when Yami pitted Sakaki, Hajime, and him in a death match for the succession of Karate in Yami. His conflict with Sakaki stems from this reason: whereas Sakaki wanted to let Hajime live and do what was best for him, Hongo was more concerned with fulfilling Hajime's wishes, calling Sakaki "selfish" for refusing to understand that. Hongo has shown to be a bit sexist, as shown when he refused to fight Shigure because she's a woman. He also refused to fight anyone who's injured. While he shows to be ruthless and very serious most the time, he, compared to the other members of Yami, has proven to be very honorable. He stopped his fight with Sakaki and assisted him in trying to save Miu from Jenazad when Jenazad interfered and even promised the Elder that he would return her to her home. Even Sakaki vouches that he is a man who keeps his word. He also wishes for no desciples to lose their lives in battle, such as stating to Sakaki that he wishes for Kenichi and Miu not to die in their fights with Jenazad's men, showing a more compassionate side. He will let his opponent fight on his own turf. Letting his use all of his best moves, and then "put his heart off guard" that he dosen't have an ounce of mercy. He is the most strangely stubborn guy in the One Shadow Nine Fist 'Background' Akira once had a past with Shio Sakaki and Suzuki Hajime, in a case where he and Sakaki had a disputed victory and Sakaki sought him out at a local karate match to settle matters. Thus starts a series of long days in which he would challenge Sakaki, with their matches supervised by Hajime. Their battles would alternate, with Hongo occasionally gaining victory and Sakaki matching Hongo's victory record. When Hajime accompanies the two in their underground ventures, Hongo would adopt Sakaki's attacking stance to correct his overly careful fighting style. When Hongo is called to challenge Sakaki and Hajime, he is at first reluctant to fight Hajime, but later comes to terms with his friend's wishes and easily dispatches him with a knife hand. He later fights Sakaki, cementing his 126th win and enabling him to join Yami. 'Plot Overview' Hongo is first seen calling Sho to his boat to meet Ogata inside a ship. He is later seen in a meeting with the other fists. Akira is then seen looking quietly at the female spy, with Sho toying around with her and letting her escape. He then berates Sho, telling him to stop playing around, and Sho reveals the disc he took from the spy. He is later seen overlooking at Sho's training. After Sho's death, he is seen angrily walking into the place where the other One Shadow Nine Fists meet, breaking the wall, casually shrugging off the people who are trying to stop him, and questioning the other Fists about Sho's death. Ogata's apology does little to appease Hongō, as the latter angrily attacks the ground, sending a fissure towards Diego Carlo and questioning if he did it, as Diego was in charge of the DofD. He later comments that One Shadow Nine Fists seem complete and asks Ogata for the location of Sho's body and receives the answer that the allied force have taken it. He then asks for details about Sho's death and is shocked when he heard Sho died protecting Miu. Cyril Rahman, Mikumo Kushinada and Ro Jisei voice their confirmation of disapproving Sho as the suitable heir of their techniques, prompting an angry response from the Karate master. Later, after defeating a group of martial artists, Hongo along with Seta and Hayami visit a village where Sho often went, to mourn his disciples' death. Upon noticing that Kenichi and Miu were also in the village, Hongo goes with Seta and Hayami to their location, allowing his disciples to attack them. After his disciples were defeated, he deduces the cause of Sho's death, easily evading Shigure and Apachi and eventually left, telling Kenichi to relay a message to Sakaki. He is later seen training his disciples and then meeting up with Sakaki and commencing their final battle. Afterwards, he confronts Sakaki and the two begin their fight. During their fight, both would begin to remember when they first met and drove them to fight against each other. Several of the city buildings would be damaged in their fight and when both began to collapse from their injuries. When Kenichi tried to check on Sakaki, Jenazad let out killing intent and made Hongo accidentally strike Kenichi and almost killed him, causing Miu to lose control of herself and strike Hongo out of anger. Miu was later taken by Jenazad and Hongo and Sakaki agreed to fight Jenazad to save Miu for interupted thier fight. As Jenazad left, Hongo promised the Elder he would bring her back home and agreed to Sakaki's statement about their fight ending in a draw. After healing his injuries, he got word were Jenazad was and left out to find him. He arrived just in time to kill some of the men fighting Sakaki, much to Sakaki's anger for killing them. After the battle they travel together to find Kenichi and Mui and get revenge on Jenazad. While Kenichi is desperately fighting to help bring Miu who was brainwashed by Jenazad back to her senses, Sakaki and Hougo are going to rescue them. They meet Jenazad who was on top of a tower waiting for someone to come up and fight him. Hongo jumped and started fight him asked two things: was it true that you put hands on your disciple, and you walk the path of the Gedou. There fight continues to go outside and onto the side of one of the towers. While Jenazad has the advantage on the tower, once Hongo uses several kicks to force him back on his turf, he unleashes a powerful attack on Jenazad. However, once Jenazad takes a particular stance and fights seriously, Hongo now has to go on the defense. He's now forcing himself to throw himself to the ground to just barely dodge his attacks and not get caught. He even dislocated his right arm and left leg to escape Jenazad's grip. Once Jenazad unleashes his secret Silat technique, Hongo is attacked by it. 'Abilities' Akira was chosen to become the one who will eventually lead Yami but for unknown reasons he didn't. Sakaki mentions that as a student, Akira already complete understood all his moves and even states that Akira is considered one of the strongest amongst the Nine Fists, and the best of them at raising disciples. Throughout his rivalry with Sakaki, he was able to defeat Sakaki, who was considered by many the greatest master-level martial artist in karate, 126 times compared to Sakaki's 125, earning him one victory over Sakaki's record. This would make him at least on par with, if not slightly better than Sakaki. However, before their 251st fight, Sakaki had chosen the path of Katsujinken while Akira had chosen Satsujinken, so Akira was able to fight with all of his strength whereas Sakaki held back to prevent himself from killing him. Rachel Stanley also mentioned that Akira was a man whom her master, Diego Carlo, acknowledged as superior to him. Immense Strength: Several martial artists tried to stop him by trying to hold him all at once but he kept striding forward normally. He also sent the group flying when he released his ki. He is capable of just stepping in stone to keep himself from falling from the angle with ease. With just a kick he can shatter the ground in a shockwave and even use a golden like training ring and spin it like nothing. Immense Endurance: Hongo has shown to have a high amount of endurance, as he took several of Sakaki's best moves and was able to keep fighting as if it hardly affected him. Even by slaming himself to the ground to escape Jenazad's grip he took little damage. He's also shown to have a high tolorance for pain, as he dislocated his right arm and his left leg simultaniously and only barely grunted in response. Immense Ki: Even Kenichi, who has already encountered Ki from master level opponents several times, finds Akira's Ki unbelievable and intimidating. Shigure, who rarely fears any enemies, find him extraordinary within a few seconds of exchanging blows. On top of that, it is hinted that he was suppressing his ki all these time. When he mention Sakaki to Kenichi, he released vast amount of ki that completely surprised Kenichi. After which, Elder appears and stops Miu from pursuing Akira, stating that "he is dangerous". This is the second time Elder stated something like this, second to Silcardo Jenazad whom Elder commented that he had a tough fight with. His Ki is extremely immense to the point where when it clashes with Sakaki who's ki he is incompatible with does nothing but create a destructive force. Both Kenichi and Miu note that his ki is nothing like they have seen before. And when fully released along with Sakaki even more so, to the point where even those with a relatively strong heart cannot stay in the area. Acute Senses: He is able to hear the chime of his disciple's broken caged bird earring from within the village while staring down at it from a hilltop. He is able to completely avoid Shigure's sword strikes and Apachai's attacks even though he was carrying one of his disciples. Immense Speed: Upon hearing the chime, he almost instantaneously arrives at the home that Kenichi and Miu were investigating. He is fast enough to exchange a battle of offense and defense of the highest level with Sakaki in an instant and the only way to keep up with the speed was to not watch with the normal eye but the inner eye. Despite this, His level of speed is so high that even Miu who was used to the battles of a master lost the ability to see the battle against Sakaki due to the overwhelming speed in which they were battling. 'Techniques' As Hongo was Sho's original master, it could be surmised that he knows all of the Karate techniques he taught his disciple. Evidence from Seta's and Hayami's martial arts styles also implies that Hongo knows a variety of Karate styles specializing in certain strikes, such as knife hands, grapples, or kicks. His preferred fighting style involves primarily using knife hand tactics. *'Jinenken: Nejiri Nukite': Unlike Sho, who rapidly alternates his spinning knife hands, Hongo shoots both hands forward and strikes simultaneously, piercing through his opponent. *'Maeba no Kamae (Front Of The Wing):' A traditional Karate technique, it is an iron defense that concentrates in the users hands to cross guard the opponents attacks *'Kyouha Kumikuzushi (Mirror Crushing Interception)': A powerful attack where Akira grabs the target and emits a powerful shockwave that could destroy the target. *'Uzumawashi Zanrin Geri(Decapitation Swirl Kick):' A technique in which the user balances on one leg, allowing them to send a large flurry of kicks towards the opponent's upper body, particularly, the head, hence the name. *'Soumawashiuke (Full Rotational Defence):' A technique where the user pivots their body and while turning, uses the rotational force to divert an opponent's attack, thus giving the user an opening to follow through with their own. *'Morotetsu Tsuiuchi (Dual Hands Iron Hammer Strike):' A powerful technique, the user gets in close to their opponent and strikes both of their sides simultaneously with the outside of both fists, the result is blasting the victim backward. *'Dankuu Shuutougiri (sky's judgment - sword cut):' The technique that gave Sakaki his scar during their flashback fight, Akira builds up force and does something like an incredibly swift chop, only it's performed going sideways, being the reasoning for Sakaki's horizontal scar. *'Metsujou Raigou Nukite '(Destruction Palm's Lighting Knife-hand Strike): An upward strike that invovles the user to strike with his hands striking the opponent multiple times. *'Dakki Kuzushi Gawashi (Focus Crushining Charge): '''A stance that invovles changing ones stance to make sure that the user can evade ones technique at the last second. *'Kumade Renpa (Consecutive Bamboo Rake Strikes): A move that strikes the opponent with multiple strikes with his fists. *'''Chouryou Kankuu Juurin (Mid-air Domination Trampling) *'Shichi bebgen Style Chouryou Kankuu Shuurin: (Rapant Sky Gazing Outrage): '''A fast pace striking move where Hongo attacks all his opponents at all the areas *'Front Kick: Hongo strikes his leg up and destroys the ground and sends a powerful shockwave to his opponent. *'Shinchi Nengen Ryu Chouryou Kankuu Shuurini '('''True Earth Nengen Style Rampant Sky Gazing Outrage): A powerful Karate move that involves Hongo raising both arms up and then reapeatidly striking his opponent all over their body with a barrage of punches and kicks. 'Battle Log' 'Past Battles' vs Sakaki (won 126 times, lose 125 times) vs Hajime (win) 'Battles Present' vs Sword master (won, killed him) vs 5 Sojutsu masters (won, killed them) with Sakaki vs Yami's Chivalrous Order (won) vs Sakaki (draw, interrupted by Jenazad) with Sakaki vs Jenazad (undecided, Jenazad ran away) vs Jenazad round 2 (ongoing) Trivia *Hongo is the first master shown to have turned to Yami out of some act of goodwill. While Alexander Gaidar's and Diego Carlo's reasons have not been revealed, and Agaard was implied to follow the Satsujinken on personal instinct, Hongo followed the Satsujinken to fulfill the wish of his friend. *He is the first Yami member to actually side with a member of Ryozanpaku to fight another fellow Yami member, and even fight that same Yami member alone. *He is the second person shown to dislike fighting women (the first being, obviously, Kenichi). Category:History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi character Category:Yami Category:Master Category:Satsujinken